Minneapolis Team Takes 2nd and Sends Players To Homeless World Cup in Italy

Minneapolis UP TOP takes second and sends players to the Homeless World Cup.

UpTop Homeless soccer team from Mpls. Also included in the team photo on right is (far right) Joe Leyba and Ronak Shah (top row 3rd from right) from Mazamba soccer apparel from Minnesota who donated uniforms to all the teams at the 2009 Street Soccer USA Cup. Photo by Rich Qualters

From July 31st to August 2nd Washington DC hosted the 2009 Street Soccer USA Cup, a sixteen-team tournament featuring homeless players from across the nation. The Street Soccer USA Cup, formerly the Homeless USA Cup, began in 2006 in North Carolina. In addition to raising awareness to the growing number of homeless Americans, the tournament is also used to pick players to represent the United States in the 2009 Homeless World Cup which will be hosted by Milan, Italy from September 6th to 13th.

Making their second appearance in the tournament was the Minneapolis team “UP TOP”. The team is part of Minnesota’s YouthLink program Project OffStreets, which is a place geared to help advance the potential in homeless youth. Kids are also able to go for a number of services including finding emergency shelter, more permanent housing, a job, or just a safe place to talk and get advice. Last year, the team’s first appearance at the Street Soccer USA Cup, UP TOP finished in first place.

Last year finding a place to practice was made difficult because of lack of funding, but this year the Gethsemane Episcopal Church in Minneapolis opened their gym for the team to use. This year’s team was made up of a combination of new players from the OffStreets program and some players from the 2008 roster. Players were chosen based on attendance, how they were progressing in their personal goals and players that simply needed a boost in their lives. The players that made the final roster were: Justin Sigana, Zachery Kasperzick, Mohamed Ahmed Muse, “Magic” Lopez, Munasar Mohamud, Roberto Madrigal, and Alvin Soto.

Minnesota coaches. Jose Acuna is on left. Photo by Rich Qualter

The first day of the three day tournament promised good things for the rest of the event as UP TOP dominated their competition. UP TOP beat host team DC 6-1, Sacramento 12-1, and Chicago 9-2. Expectations were high for the second day of the tournament and Minneapolis didn’t disappoint. With an impressive performance UP TOP went undefeated in pool play beating Montgomery County 5-3, New York 5-4 and Fort Worth 9-2, sending the team into the championship USA Cup bracket.

UP TOP started their run in the semi-finals against Los Angeles, the team Minneapolis beat in the 2008 championship game. Once again Minneapolis was victorious, winning 6-3. In the final, UP TOP met another team from California, San Francisco. Unfortunately Minneapolis lost the game 3-6.

Despite losing the final, the tournament was far from a disappointment for the Minneapolis team. The tournament’s leading scorer, Munasar Mohamud, and the MVP, Alvin Soto, played for UP TOP. Also, Coach Jose Acuna received the Kevin Carrol Katalyst Coaches Award.

This past weekend, the players chosen to represent the US at this year’s Homeless World Cup were announced. One of the players chosen was UP TOP player Alvin Soto and on the coaching staff will be his coach Jose Acuna. UP TOP goalie Justin Sigana may also make the trip because the first choice goalie could not get the needed paperwork. Munsar Mohamud was also chosen for the initial team, but because OffStreets did not have the funds to cover the cost to get his paper work in order, he will not be able to make the trip.

The team is already planning on making the trip to the next Street Soccer US Cup, but is still struggling with funding. To help raise money, OffStreet is collecting and asking for the caps of KEMPS gallon milk jugs. For information on Project OffStreets or ways to donate to YouthLink and help send UP TOP to next year’s Street Soccer US Cup, visit their web site at http://www.youthlinkmn.org.